


Christmas Gifts

by dubutokki



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Domestic Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Snapshots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 13:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17060333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dubutokki/pseuds/dubutokki
Summary: Christmas shopping and gift giving with Jeno and Jaemin through the ages.





	Christmas Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> Me: is stuck doing chapter 2 of my luren fic
> 
> Also me: was able to do a whole-ass nomin fic
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**December 24, 2001**

  


Mrs. Na watched fondly from her seat on the couch as two toddlers whacked each other with plushie toys that were given to them just minutes ago. Behind her, holding a casserole dish for their Christmas Eve dinner, Mrs. Lee giggled. 

“I’m really glad you moved next door Yoona, my little Nono has been really in need of a playmate. And of course, I needed a new friend.” 

Mrs. Na gave her friend her famous healing smile, as she got up to help set the table for their little Christmas party. “I’m very glad too, Eunji. And I’m pretty sure my Jaeminnie and Jeno will also be good friends for life.” 

The two mothers smile, as they look at their children who are now happily babbling at each other, sharing a hug with a teddy bear in between them. 

“The perfect Christmas gift,” Eunji sighs happily. 

  


**December 20, 2005**

  


“Umma, Ummaaa,” whined little Jaemin, dressed in a yellow hoodie and orange shorts, tugging on his mother’s shirt. Mrs. Na turned to look and address her little duckling, who was gazing at her with wide eyes. 

“Umma, can we buy this one?” he said, pointing to a black and green truck. Mrs. Na raised an eyebrow, intrigued. Jaemin has always preferred plushies and lego bricks over toy cars and trucks. 

“Sure baby, but don’t you want to buy a replacement for the toy bunny that got ripped when you were playing with Jeno last week instead?” 

To her surprise, Jaemin pouted, looking ashamed. “It was Nana’s fault. Nana didn’t like Nono sitting on Bunbun so I dropped his truck but it broke. Nana wants to say sorry.” 

Mrs. Na sighed, shaking her head softly while smiling. So that was why the two have been ignoring each other every time they come over to have tea and snacks. She patted her baby’s head, smiling at him encouragingly. 

“It’s good that you know you were wrong baby. You still have to apologize properly to him though, is that okay?” Jaemin nods furiously, and Mrs. Na pats his head, grinning. 

“Tell you what, we’ll wrap this so that it will look pretty when you give it to him on Christmas. I’ll let you choose which wrapper you want to put the truck in, okay?” 

“YES UMMA!” 

She wasn’t really surprised when Christmas came and Jaemin and Jeno were back to being stuck to each other’s side, playing with Jeno’s new toy truck and Jaemin’s new rabbit stuffed toy given to him by Jeno. 

  


**December 21, 2012**

  


“Do you think Mama would like this flower? … Jeno?” 

Jaemin turned to look for his not-answering companion, only to see him at the corner of the flower shop, completely engaged in his 3DS. Jaemin sighed, walking over to the boy and slapping him on the back of his head, eliciting a whine. 

“Yah you ugly boy, we’re supposed to be buying gifts for Umma and Mama here! Focus for a while, you can continue that game when we get home!” 

The two of them just came from the last day of school before winter break, and dropped by the flower shop to buy an early Christmas present for their moms. The two of them decided on giving Umma (Mrs. Na) and Mama (Mrs. Lee) flowers since, really, that’s about the only thing they can afford on their meager month-long savings from their allowances. 

Chastised, Jeno pockets his 3DS and follows Jaemin back to where he was deliberating over which flowers to give to his mom. He sees that Jaemin already chose a bouquet of sunflowers for Umma, which he thinks is appropriate since mother and son are both cheerful and sunshiney. That leaves the bouquet for Mama. Jeno scans the flowers in front of Jaemin, and finds one that he thinks his mother would like. 

“Nana… That one,” Jeno says, pointing at the flower he intends to get. Jaemin looks at him, then looks towards where he’s pointing.” 

“You know, I’m gonna need you to be more specific here, there’s a whole shelf of flowers in front of me,” Jaemin says, rolling his eyes. Jeno groans in frustration because he’s too lazy to go nearer but also he knows nothing about flower names besides the usual sunflowers and daisies. 

“That… Blue one with the ruffles thingy.” 

“Ah, the carnations!” Jaemin says, looking back to the shelf and immediately finding which flowers Jeno was pointing out. He requested for a bouquet of the blue carnations, and they split the bill between themselves, thanking the staff profusely when they added free stalks of baby’s breath and tied the wrappers of the two bouquets with pretty ribbons since they apparently rarely see sweet boys dropping by to buy flowers for their moms. The two boys happily walked out carrying a bouquet each, both craving the hot chocolate Umma and Mama was sure to have prepared in Jaemin’s apartment, and excited to see how their moms will react when they give the flowers. 

  


**December 17, 2016**

  


“Umma, I’m going now!” 

Jaemin checks his pockets for his wallet and phone, before stepping in his shoes and fixing his scarf. He opens the door, fully prepared to endure a day of gift shopping alone, only to find a familiar figure leaning on the post outside, watching a video on his phone. Jaemin raises an eyebrow at the other’s presence. 

“Hey ugly boy, need something?” 

Jeno looks up at Jaemin’s voice, straightening up and pocketing his phone. “Hey slowpoke, ready to go?” 

Jaemin’s eyebrows raised further. “You’re coming with me? Today?” 

“Yeah? It’s the 3rd Saturday of December? We always shop for gifts on this day?” 

“No, you idiot,” Jaemin says, starting to grow frustrated. “In case you have forgotten, which I dearly hope is not the case, it’s Jiyeon’s birthday today.” 

Jiyeon is Jeno’s current girlfriend. Ever since getting his growth spurt and also discovering a talent in basketball, Jeno has quickly shot up the popularity rankings in their school. He’s always been handsome, but now he’s handsome, tall, smart, and an ace in the basketball varsity team, therefore there hasn’t been a shortage of admirers and fans. It’s not like he’s a playboy, but Jiyeon is his third girlfriend this year, and Jaemin is a bit concerned about his bestfriend’s image. Jeno would always tell him though that “it just doesn’t feel right” when he would break up with them. And now, this idiot was here instead of spending the day with his girlfriend on her special day. 

The frustration must have showed on his face, because next thing he knew Jeno was chuckling and flicking his nose. “Relax, Nana. I told her I’d take her out for dinner later. Besides, do you really think I’ll miss our yearly tradition? You know I’m shitty at picking out gifts.” 

Jeno grins, before holding his hand and forcing him to start walking. Jaemin rolls his eyes, remembering that one time he asked Jeno to get a gift for Donghyuck and he came back with a stomach warmer, of all things. 

“Fine, but we’re getting my baby Jisung that shirt he liked.” 

“Ehhh. The brat doesn’t deserve that expensive shirt, let’s just buy him food and buy Lele the big dolphin stuffed toy.” 

(And if they walked all the way to the mall while holding hands, Jaemin is definitely blaming his red cheeks to the cold weather. He’ll enjoy this small victory, but he knows better. He’ll keep his blooming feelings for his best friend to himself.) 

  


**December 19, 2020**

  


“Hey ugly boy, you think Mama would like this scarf? The last time we went home, I saw that hers were already fraying at the edges. … Jeno???” 

Jaemin turned around to look for his unresponsive companion, only to find him sitting on a chair concentrating on playing a mobile game. Jaemin rolls his eyes, getting the strongest feeling of déjà vu. 

“Yah Lee Jeno, stop playing that game this instant and help me choose a gift for Mama, otherwise I’m not going to cook your favorite food at your apartment later.” 

Jeno, upon hearing the threat, instantly exits the game and pockets his phone, obediently shuffling towards where Jaemin is standing. Jaemin just raises an eyebrow at him, before presenting two different-colored scarves at him. 

“Do you think Mama will like these two? Or should we get her a shawl instead? But wait, I think Umma also needs a new scarf, how about we get them one scarf and one shawl each?” 

Jeno groans at all the choices, he’s absolutely horrible at this. “Nana, honestly? Just tell them we’re dating, those two will probably think that’s the greatest gift. They’ve been waiting for ages.” 

Jaemin blushes slightly at the reminder that they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret from their moms for half a year now. “Yeah, yeah, but we still need to buy them gifts! It’s Christmas, you grinch!” 

Jeno rolls his eyes, gathering both scarves in one hand and holding Jaemin’s hand in the other, intertwining their fingers. “Fine, let’s get them one of each,” he says, as he leads them to where he thinks he saw the shawls earlier. “But you’re not getting out of feeding me tonight babe.” 

  


**December 14, 2024**

  


Jaemin enters the mall feeling very overwhelmed. Due to… unfortunate circumstances, this will be his first solo Christmas-gift-shopping trip in a while. He chose to do it a bit early this year because honestly, he did not know if he was going to make the trip back to his hometown, or if he’s just going to have the gifts shipped and just hole himself inside his apartment for the entirety of the holidays. 

He walks around a bit, checking out stores every now and then. While he had a list prepared of possible gifts for his friend and family, what he forgot to prepare for was the fact that Christmas was mostly a couples and family holiday. Since winter break was starting, couples had the time to go out on dates and were seen anywhere he looked at. Jaemin’s heart ached; last year, he was one of those couples. 

He really didn’t know what went wrong. Maybe they grew tired of each other. Maybe being both graduating students took a great toll on them. But slowly, Jeno went out more and more with his friends to places Jaemin didn’t even know, which Jeno says was his stress-relieving ways. Jaemin meanwhile was more of a recluse, choosing to spend his down times just having a simple lunch or dinner out with any of his available friends, or just staying in his dorm room, stress baking with Donghyuck and donating the cookies to the library for anyone who needs a bite or two. It came to the point wherein the two of them weren’t spending time at all with each other, communicating via short messages or brisk calls. When Jaemin realized this, he tried to talk to Jeno, but apparently chose the wrong time to do so as Jeno has just come home from another trip, very tired and apparently slightly drunk. Tension ran high and hurtful words were flung from each other before they could control it. 

_“You just arrived and you’re telling me that you’re going away again? What do you even do on all those trips, why do all your clothes smell like alcohol?!”_

_“You ask too many questions, for fucks sake Jaemin I don’t recall asking you to be my mother. And why do you suddenly care anyway, I’ve done this a lot of times now.”_

_“I care because we need to talk Jeno. We haven’t even been spending any time with each other.”_

_“And that’s my fault? I keep asking you if you want to go to our trips, you say no each and every time!”_

_“You know I’m not comfortable with those long trips Jeno, we could spend the day here instead.”_

_“These are my friends, Jaemin! Do you really expect me to bail on them just because you’re uncomfortable going on a long trip? God, why are you so needlessly annoying!”_

Jaemin shakes himself out of his stupor, feeling the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. 

“Stupid Na Jaemin. Pull yourself together, it’s been 3 months.” Lightly slapping himself on the cheeks, he straightens himself out and sets forward, determined to complete his shopping list. 

What he doesn’t notice is the longing gaze of a tall man following his movements, a haphazardly made shopping list of frankly terrible gifts also clutched in one hand. 

  
\- - - - -  


Tired from his long day of shopping but happy that he was able to finish and get everything, Jaemin was just lounging on their sofa lazily channel-surfing when he hears the doorbell ring. He was alone in their dorm room since Donghyuck was out on a date with Mark, and he didn’t tell Jaemin about any potential visitors or packages coming. Wondering who it is, he pads over to the door and opens it, being surprised by what greets him. 

“Hey Nana, hi.” A sheepishly smiling Jeno, clutching a bouquet of blue carnations (his favorite flower, one that Jeno chose for Mama when they first went to the flower shop and that he soon grew to love) on one hand, and a stuffed Ryan plushie on the other. He’s gawking, wondering what his ex-boyfriend is doing on their doorway, bringing Jaemin’s favorite things. 

Jeno takes a deep breath, steeling himself. “I hope you don’t mind your Christmas presents being a bit early, but I guess I woke up one day realizing that I gotta stop being an asshole. You were right, we could’ve worked out something better, but I had to be dumb and spew out things I didn’t even mean, hurting you. But I’ve been working on myself, Nana, I swear. I’ve stopped going on those trips, I’ve stopped drinking to relieve stress. And God, Nana, I know I’ve been the biggest asshole to you, but I am still so, so much in love with you. These past three months have been hell for me. All I am asking for is another chance, to prove myself worthy of you, to regain your trust and your love.” 

At this point in time, Nana can’t even control the flow of his tears. The past three months have also been hell for him, wondering what he did wrong, wondering what could’ve have happened, wondering if it could have been prevented. But right now, all he knew after all those lonely nights of introspection, was that he was still very much in love with this dumb, ugly boy in front of him who broke his heart but was also the only one capable of making it whole again. He sobs, launching himself onto Jeno, who dropped the flowers and toy he was holding to catch Jaemin and clutch him to himself, both of them crying. 

“I’m sorry. I missed you so much. Please don’t ever leave me again. I love you, I love you, I love you.” 

“I’m so sorry too Nana. Don’t worry my love, I won’t ever leave you again. I promise.” 

(“By the way, how did you know I wanted this plushie?” asked Jaemin, as he snuggled against Jeno while hugging the plushie. Jeno awkwardly chuckled. 

“I saw you in the mall earlier and, uhh, followed you around and saw you staring at that one so…”

“… YOU STALKER.”) 

  


**December 16, 2028**

  


“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” 

“Brat, are you sure you’re 26 years old? Why the fuck are you so annoying?” Jeno says, rolling his eyes as he parked the car in front of a nondescript store. He went out of the car, stretching a bit, tired because of the hour-long drive. Across him, Jisung steps out of the car, looking around at the unfamiliar area. 

“Hyung, if you brought me to a strange area to kill me, couldn’t you have chosen somewhere nearer to the beach? At least there’ll be good scenery.” 

Jeno feels like at the rate of his eyerolls, his eyes will roll out of his skull before the day ends, so he just ignores the statement and gestures for Jisung to follow him. He enters the store, approaching one of the staff. The staff recognizes him and greets him cheerfully, telling him to wait for a while as she brings out his order. Jeno then turns back to Jisung, who was looking at him curiously. 

“Okay, I give up hyung, why did you bring me to a jewelry shop way out of town? If you wanted to buy me jewelry I’m perfectly fine with the store in the mall.” 

“Why in the world would I give you jewelry? Keep dreaming, brat,” Jeno scoffs, before gesturing around the store. “I drove all the way here because Renjun recommended this store. Apparently this was where Lucas-hyung bought his ring.” 

“We’ve been officially together for 8 years now, and well, I’m pretty sure there’s nobody else for me,” Jeno continues, as he watches comprehension dawn on Jisung’s face. “Moving in together was one of the best decisions we’ve made, and I enjoy waking up with him and coming home to him. We’re content with what we have now, but I know Nana’s always wanted a wedding and well, I can’t say I’m against the idea. I want to give Nana the best I can, he deserves that and more. And aside from me, you are the closest to Nana, the one who knows Nana the best. You’ve always been his baby, the one he cares so much about, but also you take care of him in return. You make sure he’s not lonely when I’m not there, and I’m very thankful for that. So it’s important for me to makes sure you’re a part of this,” he says, opening the box the staff delivered and showing the content to Jisung. “What do you think?” 

“… He did always look the best in pink,” Jisung says, smiling softly at the rose-gold ring with 3 small diamonds that Jeno was presenting, smile widening as he looks back up to Jeno. “He’ll be so happy hyung.” 

Jeno grins back at Jisung, closing the box and reaching for his wallet. “I really hope so, Sungie.” 

  


**December 18, 2032**

  


“Lee Jeno! What are these doing in the cart?!” 

An exasperated Lee Jaemin gestures to their cart, which is filled with 3 differently-colored teddy bears. Jeno, who’s looking at a shelf of unicorn toys, looks back at him, before shrugging and replying. 

“Gifts for Hana, what else.” 

Jaemin sighs. At this rate, Hana’s room will be swimming in stuffed toys, seeing as his daughter-babo-of-a-husband seems to be unable to pass any toy store without buying one for their daughter. “Babe, she has 2 of these at home already.” 

“Not those colors, she doesn’t.” 

Jaemin rolls his eyes. “Hana has more toys than she needs, let’s just buy her a dress and a pair of shoes. I’m pretty sure Jisung’s also planning on giving her a plushie anyway.” 

Jeno, the grown-ass corporate official of a high-ranking company, has the nerve to pout and whine at his husband in the middle of a packed mall. “But Nanaaa, the brat can’t have the better gift! What’s the point of my salary if I can’t buy my daughter clothes and toys at the same time?!” 

“She has lots of toys already Jeno, we’re running out of space to put them. Let’s just buy her more useful stuff for now.” 

“I don’t seem to recall you running out of space to put all the plushies I gave you when we were dating babe. Where do you think she gets her love of plushies from?” 

Jaemin gapes at his husband, unable to deny the comeback. Jeno, sensing he’s won the argument, smirks and gives Jaemin a short peck on the lips. He then pushes their cart forward, holding his husband’s hand and intertwining their fingers. 

“Let’s go to that section! I think I saw a good lego bricks set, think Hana’ll like those?” 

**Author's Note:**

> T-this was supposed to be just a drabble ahahaha...
> 
> This is me passive-aggressively raging on all the nomin angst mehehehe. Not beta'd as usual, I hope you enjoy. Happy holidays to all! :)


End file.
